Background Worldwide, around 289,000 maternal mortalities occur each year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. In Ethiopia, the maternal mortality rate is among the highest in the world. This is mainly contributed by the three delays. Husbands’ involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness can significantly reduce these delays. Therefore, it is important to know what, currently, is the husbands view regarding knowledge of key danger sign and involvement about birth preparedness and complication readiness. The investigation of husband’s involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness was sounded throughout much of the developed world. However, despite the putative assumption that the problem exists in Ethiopia at large and Axum in particular, there is no article related to the problem as yet. For this reason, the study intended to assess husband’s involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness. Method A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Axum Town from September–June 2017. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 406 husbands using the lottery method and interviewer administered structured questionnaires. Data were entered into Epi info version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. The statistical analysis was made at the 95% confidence level. The data were summarized and described using descriptive statistics. Result Four hundred six husbands were participating in the study with a response rate of 98%. Out of total respondents 258(64.7%) were in the age range of ‘18 - 39’ years and the mean age was 36.55 years. Three hundred forty-three (86%) of the respondents has attended primary education or above and 187(46.9%) fulfilled five or more variables of parameter for husband’s involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness and leveled as having good involvement. One hundred sixteen (29.1%) respondents had gotten health service problems that prohibited from going to the health facility. Conclusion Based on the findings, the overall involvements by husbands in birth preparedness and complication readiness were low. Most of the respondents have low knowledge. Knowledge of husbands, health service issues, facility and quality of care are reported factors that affect husband’s involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12884-019-2338-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.